Synopses & Reviews

Publisher Comments:

Barbara Harper outlines the elements of gentle birthing: support from loved ones, a reassuring and quiet environment with soft lighting, and minimal medical intervention. She shows you how to plan a meaningful, family-centered birth experience and discusses the many alternatives available, providing a new model of maternity care that reduces the need for high-tech crisis intervention and focuses instead on preparation and good health for mother and child."

With Cesarean section rates in some hospitals at more than 50%, women are acknowledging that childbirth reform is an essential aspect of reclaiming responsibility for our bodies and our lives."

Includes information on:

•Giving birth in a freestanding birthing center, at home, or in a hospital birthing room.

•Practical advice for couples wishing to explore the option of waterbirth, a choice" that maximizes the attributes of water as a natural, pain-relieving relaxant and an alternative to drugs and their unwanted side effects."

Synopsis:

In Gentle Birth Choices, Barbara Harper, a mid-wife, nurse, and mother, outlines the elements of gentle birthing and provides a new model of maternity care that reduces the need for high-tech crisis intervention, and focuses instead on preparation and good health for mother and child. More than 50 black-and-white photographs by Suzanne Arms capture the joy and intensity of birth.

Description:

About the Author

Barbara Harper's passion for natural birth led to the founding in 1988 of Global Maternal/Child Health Association, a nonprofit organization dedicated to education and research about natural childbirth including the use of water to ease labor and delivery."She lectures worldwide on maternity care reform and water birth." She lives outside of Portland, Oregon.

For more information on alternative birthing techniques, check out <>Barbara Harper's website.

Table of Contents

Forewordby Robbie E. Davis-Floyd, Ph.D.

Acknowledgments

Introduction

1. Gentle BeginningsIngredients for a Gentle Birth

2. The Medicalization of ChildbirthOur Legacy of Birth From Midwife to Physician The Promise of Science Pain Relief: The Era of "Twilight Sleep" Hospital Births for Everyone Unraveling Diagnostic Procedures The Results of Medical Intervention

3. Dispelling the Medical MythsMyth: The Hospital Is the Safest Place to Have a Baby Myth: Maternity Care Should Be Managed Only by a Physician Myth: The Electronic Fetal Monitor Will Save Babies Myth: Once a Cesarean, Always a Cesarean Myth: Birth Needs to be Sterile Myth: Drugs for Pain Relief Won't Hurt the Baby Myth: An Episiotomy Heals Better Than a Tear Myth: It's Better Not to Eat or Drink During Labor Myth: Family and Friends Interfere During Birth Myth: If You Are Over Thirty-Five, Your Birth Will Be More Difficult Myth: Boys Need to be Circumcised

6. Water BirthsWhy Water Birth? Water Birth History Beyond the Leboyer Bath Labor Pools in France Water Birth Comes to America Making Waves in California Water Birth Around the World Questions Everyone Asks About Water Births Water Works

7. The Mind-Body ConnectionMind-Body Response Listening to the Body Listening to the Baby Visualization for a Gentle Birth The Power of Prayer The Sexuality of Childbirth Redesigning Prenatal Preparation Mind, Body, Spirit in Unity

8. Creating Gentle Birth ChoicesPlanning Your Birth Consumers Create Choices Health Care for All Women and Children by the year 2000

What Our Readers Are Saying

Average customer rating based on 2 comments:

emailtokelly, March 13, 2008 (view all comments by emailtokelly)
An excellent choice for anyone interested in researching and choosing the best birth options for themselves. This book lays out the pros and cons of various birthing sites, interventions, plus the history and options of healthcare provider options. Gorgeous, informative black-and white photos, eloquently written, a nice balance of historical viewpoints behind the practical tools for pregnancy and birth. Additionally, the appendices are extremely helpful (i.e., Q's to ask a Doctor, Midwife, Sample Birth Plan, Procedures & Protocols for Hydrotherapy for Labor and Birth, Resources, etc.). From my point of view- a doula's perspective- this is a must-have for anyone thinking of becoming pregnant, already expecting, or working with expectant women/ families in a professional setting.

R Mason, November 21, 2006 (view all comments by R Mason)
I found this book after deciding to have a home waterbirth. I was big pregnant and feeling a bit nervous about the birth part. This book was able to put me at ease. It discusses the hormones that are realeased during labor and how medication or even fear can disrupt the natural hormonal cycle of your body in labor causing a need for pain medicine. This book reinforced my decisions about the way I chose to birth my son. The accompaning DVD also helped prepare my husband and I for our own home birth. My son was not born in the water, but he was born at home, healthy with no complications.

This book discusses everything from the history of midwifery and childbirth and different types of birth. The only comprehensive guide to waterbirth. All the other books in powells only had a paragraph about it. Barbra Harper is a local Portland author, and a very kind person. If you call Waterbirth International to rent a birth tub or spa, you may even get her on the phone. She may even autograph your book like she did mine. Enjoy

"Synopsis"
by Inner Traditions,
In Gentle Birth Choices, Barbara Harper, a mid-wife, nurse, and mother, outlines the elements of gentle birthing and provides a new model of maternity care that reduces the need for high-tech crisis intervention, and focuses instead on preparation and good health for mother and child. More than 50 black-and-white photographs by Suzanne Arms capture the joy and intensity of birth.

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